In The News

Muslim Alienation Risk in Europe

February 26, 2007
Integrating Muslims into European society has proven difficult for many EU member states. Fears of stereotypical extremism run rampant in non-Muslim populations, and Islamophobic incidents are on the rise in the EU, though still under-reported. A report from the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia details statistics and discriminatory practices against Muslims in the areas of...

Terrorist Networks Lure Young Moroccans to War in Far-Off Iraq

Craig Whitlock February 20, 2007
DNA tests show that some of the suicide bombers in Iraq came from other countries, willing to cross a continent to die for a cause. Journalist Craig Whitlock describes in the “Washington Post” how Al Qaeda recruits young males in Morocco, including college students and one young man who left a wife and infant. Recruiters for extremists target young men who are concerned about matters of “...

Across Arab World, a Widening Rift

Anthony Shadid February 14, 2007
In many Muslim nations, Sunni and Shiites live and work together as neighbors, and so the growing sectarian conflict in Iraq is unsettling for Muslim nations like Egypt. The divide between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to a disagreement in the 7th century about who should succeed the Prophet Mohammed. Shiites, long disenfranchised in Iraq and Bahrain where they make up a majority and many other...

How Not to Inflame Iraq

Javad Zarif February 12, 2007
Speaking to the UN Security Council in 2003, just prior to the US invasion of Iraq, Iranian Ambassador Javad Zarif warned the world that, “extremism stands to benefit enormously from an uncalculated adventure in Iraq.” As the US prepares to escalate troops in Iraq to confront an ever-growing insurgency, Zarif once again urges Washington to abandon shortsighted schemes, arguing that an “escalated...

Traffic Cop in an Unsettled Region

Bernhard Zand February 7, 2007
This month, Riyadh is seeing more diplomatic traffic than usual as high-level envoys from the US, Germany and other nations seek to gain the support of the Saudi government for various initiatives to promote peace in the region. As Bernhard Zand writes, the hidden backdrop for this flurry of activity is the ambiguity of Saudi intentions and the fact that the nation may represent the best...

Shiite-Sunni Conflict Rises in Pakistan

David Montero February 6, 2007
Many Muslim nations, despite their varying proportions of Shiites and Sunnis, have seen the representatives of both religious sects banding together to pray, even when one sect constitutes a minority presence in the government. However, many analysts fear that sectarian violence in Baghdad could spark similar resentment beyond Iraq’s borders. For example, suicide bombers recently attacked a...

With Iran Ascendant, US Is Seen at Fault

Anthony Shadid January 31, 2007
The US invasion of Iraq four years ago was supposed to spread democracy throughout the Middle East – not strengthen Iran. Arab allies to the US resent Iran’s growing influence in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran is one of the few Shiite-dominated nations in a world where almost 9 out of every 10 Muslims are Sunnis. Much of the violence in Iraq stems from bitter conflict between the...